Yliopisto-opetuksella kukoistusta - elämänfilosofisen luentosarjan vaikuttavuus hyvinvointiinCreating flourishing through university teaching - the impact on well-being of a series of life-philosophical lectures

Tutkimuksen perusteella on näyttöä siitä, että hyvinvointiin voidaan vaikuttaa elämänfilosofisella interventiolla, jossa on useita satoja osallistujia. Tässä tutkimuksessa ei ole tutkittu elämänfilosofisen intervention vaikutusmekanismia, joten tulevaisuudessa tarvitaan enemmän ymmärrystä siitä, mihin intervention vaikuttavuus perustuu.This study focuses on the impact of a life-philosophical lecture series on well-being. The lecture series was held at a university, and it had approximately 500 participants, who were mostly technical university students.

In this study, well-being is seen as a broad phenomenon that consists of hedonic and eudaimonic components. The hedonic component includes for example satisfaction, pleasure, and positive emotions. The eudaimonic component includes for example personal growth, purpose in life, and social integration. Well-being can be seen as valuable in itself and, in addition, based on previous research, it has positive impacts on the person themselves, their community and their society.

The research method is quantitative, and the data was collected on questionnaires. The participants of the study (n = 66) reported their well-being before the course and after it using various well-being measures. In addition, the data includes participants' evaluations of the course's impact on their well-being.

Based on the results the course positively impacted on the participants' hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The participants' sex, age, study year, or study credits was not related to the change in their well-being. The level of well-being measured before the course was related to the change in their well-being. The well-being of those participants whose well-being was below the average before the course increased the most during the course. Additionally, also the well-being of those participants whose well-being was average before the course increased during the course but less than the well-being of below the average participants. The changes in well-being of those participants whose well-being was high before the course were mostly positive but small, and they were statistically non-significant.

This study indicates that well-being can be increased by a life philosophical intervention with as many as hundreds of participants. Since the study does not consider the impact mechanism of the life philosophical intervention, more understanding is needed in the future about the impact mechanism of the intervention.